Freecycle Friday – Faux Makeup For Your Kiddos

We decided a long time ago that we don’t want our kids to get used to wearing real makeup too young, but the only “play” makeup I can ever find in the toy section is all REAL!!

So, I always save my empty makeup containers for my girls to play with, but I have always kept an eye out for “play” makeup like I used to have as a kid. But, I still haven’t found any (only the occasional fake lipstick and such).

SO……

Here we are……making our own.And all you need is nail polish!!

It’s ssooooooo easy AND it looks totally REAL, so your kiddos will LOVE it! (My hubby even saw it sitting on the counter and didn’t realize it was fake :)

Just wash out your old makeup containers with soap and water, and let them dry thoroughly.Then, (once you’ve gotten some cheap Dollar Store nail polish, or use some that you don’t use as much anymore), just slowly pour it into your containers where the makeup used to be.

I say slowly because you don’t want to accidentally pour out the little mixing beads that are inside. Also, before pouring shake the polish well, but then let it sit for a minute so the air bubbles can rise and pop and not mess up your “makeup.”

You can use as much as you want, but as the polish dries, it shrinks, so it will actually look like about half of what you pour in. I used the whole bottle for the “foundation powder” and around a quarter of the large pink bottle for the “blush” and less than an eighth of a bottle for each “eyeshadow.” (but, the eyeshadow in the pic is wet, so it will look like less once it dries)

It takes a full 24 hours for the polish to dry, but I waited another few days since it was still pretty stinky (didn’t want the kiddos getting high off it), and to make sure it was thoroughly set.

Once I used up the bottle for the “foundation,” I thought it would be cool to have play nail polish too! So, I cleaned the brush off with nail polish remover and around the inside of the cap, then I just let the tiny bit that was left over dry inside the bottle for a few days too. We do let our kiddos have painted nails, but they are not allowed to play with the actual bottles of nail polish, so….now they can :)

The best part of these are the cool brushes to use with it!!!

Don’t forget to let it dry in a well ventilated area, away from bugs that might get stuck in it. Also, this is probably a craft to do without your kids since, (a) there are lots of fumes & (b) they can’t really help much and they can’t even play with it for 3 whole days!!!

Well, hope you have fun making your own, I know your kids will LOVE it!

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Emily McDonald is the owner of Not So Idle Hands and lives in Colorado with her hot hubby and 3 cute daughters. When she's not battling ADHD, Fibro, or Migraines she loves to be downstairs playing with all her pretty crafty things making fun stuff. She also runs an awesome Etsy Shop by the same name where she gets to sell shiny supplies to make pretty stuff {check it out!}.

Great idea! My daughter recently got into the REAL nail polish….she was standing in front of my looking REALLY guilty and then I looked down and there was fuschia polish covering her feet and toes. She though it was SO pretty ;)

This is wonderful! I wish I had empty make-up containers on hand right now so I could make some for my niece’s birthday today. She’s turning 3 and would absolutely love it! Thanks for the fun tutorial! :)

Thank you thank you thank you. I too have been looking all over for “fake” makeup. You just can’t get it anymore. You are AWESOME for coming up with this. My kids are getting this in their stockings this Christmas.

Ok so I posted your link on my facebook & there is a whole hord of us making this stuff, lol. I made my daughter a makeup box out of an old wipe container that I decoupaged pink paper & her name on. For her “makeup” I am using painter’s tape to tape of the clear plastic thing on top & popping out the metal tins & spray painting the bottoms of all of her pink & then gluing the tins back in & filling them. Then I am going to decoupage an A on all her her’s so she can start to recognize her A for her name. I LOVE THIS IDEA!!!!

LOVE this!!! I was actually searching for a solution today after my 2-year-old daughter got into my make-up again! She sure looked beautiful with a mascara uni-brow, clown lip lipstick, and highlighting powder covering her whole face! So, thanx for the idea! I’m making some tomorrow!

Thank you SO much for posting this!! I had been scouring the stores for the fake make-up too and been so disappointed to only find the non-fake stuff being marketed to little girls. I plan to make this up for my little girl’s birthday and pair it with some cosmetic brushes stored in a pencil cozy. She’s going to have a BALL. thanks again!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I’m so frustrated finding cheap “fake” not so fake makeup for my 3 year old who wanted “makeup” from Santa this year. We got her the Princess vanity, but this will give me the stocking stuffers to go with it. THANK YOU THANK YOU!

So cute!! i did the same thing for my girls but I used acrylic craft paint instead of the nail polish. It eventually flakes off so I think I’ll try your nail polish technique on our next batch. I also gave my girls (ages almost 3 and 6.5) a set of silver plate make up brushes I’ll never use and an old make up bag to keep it all in…very popular indeed!

I put this away for future reference and my daughter just told me that her 2 year old daughter loves to sit beside her and grab the brushes after my daughter is done putting on her makeup. I don’t have any containers but I’m sure I can find the polish and containers at the dollar store tomorrow.Thanks!robinmark-it-with-a-b.blogspot.com – feel free to check out my giveaways!

This is one of the most brilliant things I’ve ever seen! I’ve been looking for a pretend play makeup set for my two and a half year old because she is interested in doing things that I do but they are expensive and cheaply made. This is PERFECT!!! I thank you for posting it!

This is perfect! I have been searching high and low for a ‘pretend’ makeup set for my little 2 year old (she already wants to put makeup on like mommy in the morning – oh dear….!). Definately putting this together for her for Easter! Thanks!

Thanks so much – I have spent ages walking the stores to find a pretend makeup set in Sydney, Australia. Your idea is just fantastic – I’m going out tomorrow to buy some cheap makeup and nail polish and make them ready for wrapping up for her party on the weekend!

I just made these and they turned out so cute! My little girl will love it for Christmas. Thanks for your neat idea. I am going to post this on my blog. Hope you don’t mind if I do a shout out for you:>

thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!! My 3-year-old wants makeup for Christmas and I didn’t want to buy her anything that was real and would make a mess and make her look like a clown. This will be so perfect!

What a wonderful idea. I have a 3 year old granddaughter who loves the play make-up. Me, not so much. She loves to play dress-up and to put make up on herself and me and others. I will have to make her some of these and a cosmetic bag to hold it all. Brilliant!!!

what a truly sweet and brilliant idea! I think my daughter is too old for pretend makeup.. but I have a few younger nieces who would LOVE this! I am totally going to do this now! :) Thanks for such a great idea!!

This is such a great idea! I remember having pretend makeup that was plastic, this even better than those! I was so excited I went and found old nearly empty makeup that I didn’t use and made some for my nieces for Christmas! They are drying now. Thanks so much! Perfect gift idea!

So glad I came across this on Pinterest. I made one for my daughter and she loves it, I can’t wait to make more – and great idea to have pretend nail polish too, she is in mine *all* the time but now she can pretend :)

I, too, found this on Pintrest, and am the mother of 3 girly girls, and can NOT, for the life of me, find a single piece of PRETEND makeup. I love you. Thank you for sharing this with the world. Thank you for being a genius. You should market this shit, and become a millionaire. I’ve rallied all my friends to go through all their makeup and nail polishes and I’ll be making all of our daughters their very own makeup, FOR FREE!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!

This is amazing! I don’t have any little ones in my life, but will have to keep this idea at the back of my head.. or use it as a toy for babysitting! I love the idea though, so simple.

A quick tip on the nail polish (also useful for yourself, when you use the nail polish to paint nails): instead of shaking the bottle, roll the bottle in between your hands to warm the bottle and mix the polish without getting air bubbles in it.

The skin on your face is much more sensitive than the skin on the rest of your body. Facial scrubs and lotions are made specifically for that reason. I wouldn’t encourage putting dried out nail polish on your child’s face. It’s a creative idea, but probably not very safe.

Hey there! Just wanted to let you know we featured you in our Favorite Find Fridays post over at Whimsically Homemade. We used one of your pictures. If that’s a problem let us know and we’ll remove it immediately. Thanks for your great inspiration!

Hi! I just came across your page via pinterest yesterday and LOVE this faux make up idea. I just finished making a couple different compacts to put in my 4 year old daughter’s Christmas stocking this year. She is going to be so excited! Thanks so much for sharing your genius idea!!

They do sell kid-friendly, non-toxic nail polish. If you’re going to paint your child’s nails, I highly recommend it because those fingers end up in their mouths at some point no matter how old they are. It also has less (if not none) of the toxic fumes. So using them to make play makeup might also be more ideal.

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[…] less, I was committed to upcycling this thing and by Prince George I was going to. So I followed the idiot proof instructions and dug out all the lovely pigment. Then poured in some nail varnish that is older than the […]

[…] wear it, when you can fake it! Let your little girls put make up on the same time as you in these fauz makeup sets. Just fill old makeup containers with nail polish, give your kids a brush and they have fun, join […]

[…] wear it, when you can fake it! Let your little girls put make up on the same time as you in these fauz makeup sets. Just fill old makeup containers with nail polish, give your kids a brush and they have fun, join […]